I'm at the point of ordering a Yeti in Elegnace trim but my only concern is the cost of replacing the Xenon lights igniter etc. A friend of mine bought an XF Jag recently and didn't want xenon lights because of costly repairs to starter/igniter. He thought the lights themselves were guaranteed for life but the cost of other parts required to boost the start up voltage were very expensive to replace, £300? Any thoughts?

Supposedly they are "long life" so shouldn't need replacing very often, however users elsewhere have reported a drop-off in light output after a couple of years. I think it is the "bulb" element that goes, not the electrickery bits.

Probably going to get flamed, but personally I would prefer to stick to the old fashioned bulbs at the moment, especially when the likes of Hella and Piaa are saying that LED systems will soon overtake the HID units in availablity and usefullness.

Supposedly they are "long life" so shouldn't need replacing very often, however users elsewhere have reported a drop-off in light output after a couple of years. I think it is the "bulb" element that goes, not the electrickery bits.

Probably going to get flamed, but personally I would prefer to stick to the old fashioned bulbs at the moment, especially when the likes of Hella and Piaa are saying that LED systems will soon overtake the HID units in availablity and usefullness.

I think the lighting improvement over standard bulbs is fantastic.

I Read somewhere that they have a bulb life of 80 to 120K miles or more depending on how much use they get, so it will probably be the second owner who has to sort them out on the average car.

I think the lighting improvement over standard bulbs is fantastic.

I Read somewhere that they have a bulb life of 80 to 120K miles or more depending on how much use they get, so it will probably be the second owner who has to sort them out on the average car.

I haven't said the improvement isn't better!

And since my car has already done nearly 40k I'm already half way there, and with a new HID "bulb" costing anything over £100 that is 5 sets of Osram Nightbreaker plus bulbs, and I've only used 1 in my mileage.

I'll wait until the LED's come out.

I used to replace Xenon lamps in Crosfield Scanners in the printing industry. 600 hours @ £600+ each!!

One point, those lamps are under high pressure so if you do have to change one I would reccomend wearing eye protection as when they went pop (loud) there was glass everywhere. We used to have to wear face masks and gloves.

Jerry

My previous car had bi-xenon headlights, similar to my Yeti.

It was a 2004 car, and when sold in 2010 the original set of headlights were still going strong. Very strong. Absolutely no sign of diminishing of light levels, and this was with a lot of night driving miles.

The car was sold within my wider circle of acquaintances, and before Xmas the new owner still reported how impressive the lights were at night. No mention of having to replace the xenon bulbs, which leads me to think they're still fine after 8 years and now nearly 200,000 miles.

Nick

and with a new HID "bulb" costing anything over £100

Genuine Skoda HID xenon D1S bulbs available here at €49.99 + carriage - My link

however users elsewhere have reported a drop-off in light output after a couple of years. I think it is the "bulb" element that goes, not the electrickery bits.

As far as I know it's the headlamp reflector that usually goes after a few years. It gets burned out over time and gets black.

And I agree about those LED lamps (and even further - laser ones by BMW). But still the xenons I have are so much better than the regular bulbs ... Will have to pay when the time comes :S

There are three main components to a xenon headlight; the gas filled bulb, ignitor (high voltage pulse to generate a spark to ignite the gas) and ballast (controls the current).

OK so xenon bulbs are more expensive than tungsten to replace at around £40 each but they last much, much longer at an average of 2,000 hours compared to 450-1000 hours for a tungsten halogen bulb.

The slight increase in the cost of replacing the bulb is offset by the reduced running costs of xenon. Reduced power consumption means less fuel consumption and less CO2 emissions.

The main thing to remember is that a replacement xenon headlight cluster is no more expensive than a halogen headlight as the expensive bits (bulb, ignitor and ballast) are all bolt-on components so you are no more vulnerable financially in the event of a rogue stone / minor parking knock etc.

The light output of xenon is far superior to halogen which for me is well worth the extra outlay as most of my driving is at night.

If your friend is splashing out on a brand new XF the cost of maintaining his xenon headlights should be the least of his worries

Have a read in this thread about how many owners moan about the pathetic light spread of the Yeti's one-bulb-does-both-jobs Halogen system:

http://briskoda.net/forums/topic/178553-full-beam-not-so-great/

As to costly Xenon repairs: you can insert any of the new modern technology advances in cars in there instead of Xenon and will get the same anwer. "Yes sir your airbags, ESP, six CD radio, Bluetooth connection, sat nav, heated seats, etc, etc will be more complex and more expensive to repair than the valve radio in your Morris Minor". Not rocket science. So I won't worry about it. It is just one of those things that come with man becoming more advanced.

Many thanks for all the replies, they've put my mind at rest.

I'm having a test drive in a couple of weeks and, unless they can match the price, will be ordering from Drive the Deal. I'll keep the forum posted on progress.

As to costly Xenon repairs: you can insert any of the new modern technology advances in cars in there instead of Xenon and will get the same anwer. "Yes sir your airbags, ESP, six CD radio, Bluetooth connection, sat nav, heated seats, etc, etc will be more complex and more expensive to repair than the valve radio in your Morris Minor". Not rocket science. So I won't worry about it. It is just one of those things that come with man becoming more advanced.

.....and generally each of the technological improvements (maybe after a little initial learning period) is more reliable than the preceding technology.

I hope your friend with the XF isn't regretting his choice, as I found the standard-fit lamps in the loan XF I borrowed were useless to the point of being dangerous on such a high-performance car.  Even the xenons on my XF are not as good as those on the Yeti (though vastly better than the standard XF lights) - the irony being that the XF xenons are marked "Made in Czech Republic"!  By the way, I thought the "facelift" XFs all had xenons now anyway.

The Yeti is our fifth xenon-equipped car (after two X-Types, a Beetle and the XF) and the first to give any kind of problem - a control module replaced under warranty.  That's over a total of 260,000 miles.  Even if they had cost money for replacements, I wouldn't begrudge it for the safety benefit - the same reason I don't fit bargain-basement tyres.